Poss. Nesting Behavior?? Not sure..

TeenageBirdMom

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Bonca- Male Ekkie
I have two Ekkies, one male & one female. The family I had rescued them from has said that the female has laid infertile eggs before. I know that it is unlikely that the two would have mated.. I do not have a breeding box and the male isn't necessarily the prime idea of a good mating partner (He is a plucker unfortunatley :( ) However, now Monae, my female, is tearing apart her newspaper at the bottom of the cage for a few days now and hanging out down there making what seems like a nest? She is completley healthy, so she isn't down there for any reasons that may imply that she's sick. She eats a lot, plays a lot, and is very fiesty (Lol). So my main question is, is she definatley nesting or is she just bored? And if she does lay an egg what do I do with it and how can I be sure it's infertile?
Thanks!
Hannah and the Flock :)
 

labell

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Why do you feel it is unlikely that they have mated, are they in the same cage? Access to each other? Just because the male plucks doesn't mean he is infertile. Do you know how old each bird is? What sub species are they? Are you sure they were not purchased together as siblings?

If she lays an egg and eclectus are very prolific she can lay them any where so if you want her to it is better to provide a place or she will choose one. Do you want them to have babies? Have you bred before or hand fed? If you want them to breed and are experienced it would be easier to give them an actual nest-box. If you are not experienced I will tell you that eclectus babies are very hard to feed if you have never fed before there are a million and one things that can go wrong. So I would urge you to give this very serious thought.

The shredding stuff on the bottom of the cage is nesting behavior although I have a female that is young that likes to shred stuff way more than the boys do.:) I do provide lots of shredding material for mine because they seem to love it. Everyone knows to save me their phone books...they are tons of cheap fun!
 
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labell

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Sorry I wasn't paying attention to your username :D by your age I am guessing you don't have breeding experience. So that changes my answer a little.

If your girl lays eggs it would be best to remove them and replace them with fake ones of the same size you can buy on line. Leave her to sit them after 28 days or so she will know they aren't going to hatch and she will abandon them. What you don't want to do is remove the eggs without replacing them with fake ones as this will just stimulate her to lay more eggs thinking that a predator got them. Repeated egg laying is very hard on a hen and can cause calcium deficiencies.

Also if you are not already doing it you should feed your ekkies egg once in a while. I feed mine every week to two weeks eggs with the shell. Just wash the egg shell off and scramble the whole thing shell and all and cook it. Cool before feeding of course.
 
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TeenageBirdMom

TeenageBirdMom

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They are together and have been for nearly 10 years and they have never mated. I realize the male is fertile, however I thought it may be unlikely that they would mate seeing that they never have before and he does not appear to be an optimal mate (just seeing it through the natural selection way, I figured a plucking male does not appear to be the healthiest mate) and I have had baby birds before. From my experience all of the mating pairs would not mate until they had the right resources such as a breeding box. My Mom has hand raised all sorts of babies of many species so I am sure that more would not be a problem. I am simply asking so I can know how to tell whether or not the eggs would be fertile (especially since I havent seen nor expect any mating) or not and was hoping that they wouldn't be. I don't believe in breeding I prefer adopting Lol.

Oh! Also, I realize that egg laying too much can lead to a calcium deficiency and if I cannot prevent her from laying, I need to know how to keep her calcium up! My mom has always used a reptile calcium supplement and sprinkled it over their food and water. Is this what anyone else does or is there a better source of calcium I should get?
 
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labell

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If a pair wants to raise chicks they can and will lay eggs any where. I have heard of female ekkies laying under furniture and other weird places. So I wouldn't rule that out even if they don't have a nest-box.

Mating could be happening when you don't see it, there is not a lot to it, and it's pretty fast. However if they have been together for that long there could be an issue. Do you know what sub species they are? The larger Vos and Red sided can take longer to successfully mate and raise young than the smaller Solomon.

If you google it you can find instructions on candling (shining a light) through an egg to check to see if it is fertile. You will be able to see the embryo forming in the egg if they are.

Eggs are a better source of calcium as well as broccoli and any dark leafy greens such as kale, collard, dandelion.
 
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TeenageBirdMom

TeenageBirdMom

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erg.. I guess I'll just leave plenty of material for her and just see what happens. I can research shining the light to look for any embryo, and I already leave them with lots of fruits and veggies and the occasional scrambled egg. Also, with other mating pairs I have had in the past both the male and female sit on the eggs, however my male has very few feathers and undoubtedly wouldn't be able to keep anything very warm.. and I'm definatley stumped on what to do about that...
 

labell

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erg.. I guess I'll just leave plenty of material for her and just see what happens. I can research shining the light to look for any embryo, and I already leave them with lots of fruits and veggies and the occasional scrambled egg. Also, with other mating pairs I have had in the past both the male and female sit on the eggs, however my male has very few feathers and undoubtedly wouldn't be able to keep anything very warm.. and I'm definatley stumped on what to do about that...

With eclectus the roles males and females play is very different, most times the female will not let the male into the box. His only job is to feed her...a lot!
The female defends the nest in eclectus, it is the opposite in most parrots. In the wild once the babies actually leave the nest the males take a more active role with the young but while they are in the nest his only job is to feed the female so she can feed the babies and keep herself fed. It has always fascinated me that female eclectus in the wild can have multiple males feeding her when she pokes her head out and calls to be fed without the males being sure of who exactly fathered her young but that is how it works with them.:D
 
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TeenageBirdMom

TeenageBirdMom

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Parrots
Apollo-Sun Conure
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Sprite & Sierra- keets
Toshae- Cockatoo
Monae- Female eclectus
Bonca- Male Ekkie
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Okay, phew! That makes me feel much better! Thank you for answering my questions! I'm obviously not too familiar with the Ekkie way of doing things. There are much more different than my other flock members!
 

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